The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-11-12
Cleaning Windows.

| IneTo are lew tniHRs tHht auu 80
much to the attractiveness of house
as clean windows, and the housckeep-
or, recognizing this, deems II one Of
the important duties of her homework
that they shall be rs clean and bright
as she can make them. To keep win
dows bright and clean is anything but
an easy task. for they require to be
looked after constantly to keep them at
all presentable. No matter how clean
and tidy the room NAV be in other re-
poets. II the windows are not clean oil
the tidiness goes for nothing
Many housewives who are anything
but careless in the rest of their work
are neglectful of their windows. mas
much rs they may often clean them,
but do 80 in such careless manner
that they are never really clean. Every
woman has a way Of her own for this
work, which she considers far supe-
rior TO any other, but very few of them
have a good method, and may be i'm
proved on easily.
Many women use soap to help them
in washing windows, and then wonder
why the glass looks so streaky. Soap
should never be used tor this work.
for II it is, the glass will never
look as clear as that which has
been cleaned without. To be sure,
they are always rinsed after washing
in this way, and, even then, though
they may look as well as those washed
in clear water. yet they do not look
any better, and the extra labor is
thrown away. Do not use old table
linen for washing or wiping windows
1t is, certainly. nice and soft and
would seem to be just the thing, but
the wiping off of the lint, which old
table linen is sure to leave otter II, out
weighs all the merits of softness. Cold
water is usually used. but this required
SO much wiping. and il there is any
grease on the windw, which is often
the case where there are children, SO
much hard work to remove it. that
warm water is much to be preferred.
Choose for this work a warm day; II
cloudy all the better, though by no
means ever clean windows on a damp
day. II it is sunny day do not wash
any glass while the sun is shining upon
itit you would have it free from streaks
Even II you have to wait until after
noon for the sun to leave the front of
the house. let the windows wait until
then or cloudy day rather than have
tn EN- look as though half cleaned. First
dust the windows inside and out, using
q small paint brush for the crevices
and corners of the sashes. Wash thor
oughly the sashes and woodwork
az ound the panes, and if soap is used,
see that as little as possible of it touch
as the glass. Wash the woodwork on
the outside of the window. as that Is
sually very dusty and should be always
cleaned before the glass is touched.
Have small flannel or cotton cloth for
washing and large old cotton one
for wipng. Never use new cotton for
this purpose. for without exception 1t
Is the hardest kind of cloth for drying
windows. Have basin of pretty
warm water, the hotter the BETTER and
into it put few drops of ammonia.
With the small cloth wash each pane
thoroughly, using small pointed stick
for the corners (some save wooden
skewer for this purpose), and If the
water is very hot, wipe immediately,
for with hot water the panes wipe much
easier and dry quickly. Clear hot
water without the ammonia may be
used. and will do the work very well,
but the ammonia makes the work
cas- or and imparts to the glass a fine
gloss. Some use few drops of kero-
sene in place of the ammon la and claim
it as excellent Wash the inside of the
glass first, so that when do ng the out
side any speck or streak may be easily
seen and removed. Windows treated
in this way may be washed in one-half
the time in which they are usually
done, and look much better.